Battery mechanism for automatic filling-replenishing looms



' A. E. RHOADES.

BATTERY MECHANISM FOR AUTOMATIC FILLING REPLENISHING LOOMS.

APPLICATION FILED AUG-5. 1920.

1,395,011, Patented 0011.25, 1921.

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\nvenToT. Alongo E. Rhoades byiwdMaW ATTys.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

.ALONZO E. RHOADES, OF HOPEDALE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR T0 DRAPEB CORPO- RATION, OF HOPEDALE, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MAINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 25, 1921.

Application filed August 5, 1920. Serial No. 401,491.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALoNzo E. RHoADEs, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Hopedale, county of Worcester, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Battery Mechanism for Automatic Filling-Replenishing Looms, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawing, is a specification, like characters on the drawing representing like parts.

This invention relates to improvements in batteries for automatic filling replenishing looms and the object thereof is to provide a novel support for the filling carrier about to be transferred which will be simple in construction and effective in operation.

The usual hopper mechanism of automatic filling replenishing looms of the Northrop type comprises the hopper stand in which is mounted a rotatable disk having a peripheral series of recesses to receive the bases of filling carriers, means being provided to advance the filling carriers successively to transferring position, from which they are thrust into the active shuttle by a transfer arm which forms part of a transferring mechanism, the action of which is controlled by a feeler or weft fork.

The stand, which supports the rotatable hopper, is provided with a circular flange which lies closely adjacent to the periphery of the disk and retains the filling carriers in their their positions throughout the greater portion of the periphery of said disk. This flange, however, is cut away at trans ferring position to provide a throat through which the filling carrier may be thrust from the hopper into the shuttle. When the filling carrier reaches transferring positlon it engages an abutment located upon the hopper stand in alinement with the position of the shuttle at the time the transferring action takes place.

In hoppers of the usual type a spring actuated filling carrier supporting finger, mounted upon a horizontal pivot, underlies the base of the filling carrier about to be transferred, to prevent it from dropping from the hopper. The end of this finger also engages the base of the filling carrier as it is being transferred and serves to press it against the abutment and thereby to aid in directing the filling carrier into the shuttle. At the moment of tranfer the lay is in sub stantially its front position and the filling carrier supporting finger sometimes, in its downward movement, enters or strikes the shuttle as it directs the filling carrier into the shuttle. Furthermore, under certain circumstances, a rebound of the hopper in its advancement step by ste so positions the filling carrier over the filling carrier supporting finger that the transfer arm will thrust the filling carrier against the finger with sufiicient force to break the finger and am it against the shuttle or lay.

The object of the present invention is to provide a filling carrier support so mounted as to prevent the filling carrier from dropping from the hopper, but which will be yieldably swung in a horizontal direction when the filling carrier is forced from the hopper into the shuttle during transfer, the filling carrier support serving, during such transfer, to retain the filling carrier against the guiding abutment during its passage from the hopper into the shuttle. This novel filling carrier support is so constructed that it cannot be forced into contact with the shuttle and if broken will be thrown out without striking the shuttle or the lay.

Other objects and features of the invention will more fully appear from the following description and the accompanying drawings and will be pointed out in the annexed claims.

The drawings illustrate a preferred embodiment of my invention applied to the transferring mechanism of a usual type of Northrop loom.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is an end elevation, partly in transverse section, of a sufficient portion of a loom to disclose the application of the invention thereto,

Fig. 2 is a detail vertical sectional view, through the hopper stand and a portion of the hopper disk, on lines 22 Fig. 1, showing the filling carrier support in elevation, and,

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the filling carrier support showing the filling carrier associated therewith, the pivotal stud for the filling carrier support being shown in section.

The loom illustrated in the accompanying drawings is of the usual Northrop type comprising a side frame 1 having a breast beam 2 upon which is mounted a hopper stand 3 having a horizontal shaft 4 upon which is mounted the usual rotary disk or hopper which supports the filling carrier. One of these disks 5, which is illustrated herein, is provided with the usual series of peripheral pockets 6 to receive the filling carriers 7.

The hopper stand is provided with a flange 8 which extends around the greater portion of the hopper disk and lies closely adjacent the periphery thereof to prevent the filling carriers from dropping out of the pockets 6 of the hopper disk 5. The lower portion of this flange is cut away to provide a throat 9 through which the filling carriers may be discharged from the hopper into the shuttle.

One side of the throat 9-is provided with an abutment 10 against which the leading filling carrier rests when in transferring position and which is so positioned as to guide the filling carrier during its transfer fromthe hopper into the shuttle.

The shuttle 11 is reciprocated backward and forward across a raceupon the lay 12 which is carried upon the usual swords 13 which are actuated in the well known manner. The transfer of the filling carrier from the hopper to the shuttle in effected through the usual transferrer comprising a transfer arm 14 having a head 15 adapted to engage the base-of the filling carrier, and a tip holder. 16 for directing the free end of the filling carrier. The transferrer is provided with the usual downwardly extending arm 17 which carries at its lower end a dagger 18 adapted to be engaged, upon call for transfer, by the usual bunter (not shown) upon the lay. e

Any suitable controller, operable upon exhaustion or failure of filling, may be provided for initiating the action of the transferring mechanism, but as this forms no part of the present invention, illustration thereof is unnecessary.

The present invention comprises improvements in a filling carrier support which normally serves to prevent the positioned filling carrier from dropping from the hopper and which also aids in directing the filling carrier from the hopper into its seat in the shuttle when transfer takes place;

In the preferred embodiment of the invention disclosed herein the hopper stand 3 is provided with a boss 19 which extends outwardly from the'hopper into a position adjacent the throat 9. The filling'carrier support desirably is in the form of a substantially rectangular plate 20 which is secured to a vertical shaft 21 which is journaled in a suitable bearing in the boss19. This filling carrier support is located beneath the throat of the hopper and its edge extends a short distance beneath the path traversed by the filling carrier during transfer.

The upper edge 22 of the filling carrier support is slightly beveled to enable the filling carrier more surely and easily to swing aside the filling carrier support during transfer. The upper end of the shaft 21 preferably is fixedly secured by a pin 23, or otherwise, to a chambered collar 24, the lower end of which rests upon the upper face of the boss 19. A helical spring 25, which encircles the shaft 21 and is anchored at one end to the boss 19 and at the other end to the collar 24, serves to retain the filling carrier support in normal position beneath the'hopper, a shoulder 26 serving to limit the movement of the filling carrier support when the same has reached normalposition. I

In the operation of the device the filling carrier support underlies the path of the'positioned filling carrier sufiiciently to arrest the same if it becomesdet'ached fromthe recess 6 of the hopper, and thereby to prevent the filling carrier from falling into th path of the lay.

When transfer takes place, and the head of the transferrer is actuated to force'the filling carrier from the hopper into the shuttle, the filling carrier support 22 yieldably engages the base of the filling carrier and forces the same against the abutment 10 during the transferring action, thereby insuring the proper delivery of the filling carrier to the shuttle. During this action the filling carrier support is swung about its pivot in a horizontal plane so that it does not approach the shuttle and consequently cannot cause injury thereto. Furthermore,- if by a rebound of thehopper, or for any other reason the filling carrier becomes displaced the filling carrier support will yield sufficiently to permit the filling carrier to be discharged without causing a smash; or, if by chance the filling carrier-support should be broken, under such conditions, the broken part will be thrown away from the-lay so that it will not strike or injure either the shuttle or the lay.

It will be understood that the embodiment of the invention disclosed herein is illustrative and not restrictive, that various changes in. construction and arrangement of parts may be employed, and'that the invention may be utilized in other types of looms than that illustrated herein, within the meaning and scope of the following claims.

laving thus describedmy invention, what I claim as new, and'desire to secure by Letters Patent, is: i p

1. In a battery for automatic filling re plenishing looms comprising a hopper for. supporting a series of filling carriers, means for successively placing said filling carriers in transferring position, and transferring means, a filling carrier support normally 10-. cated below'the filling carrier positionedfor transfer and pivotally mounted to swing in a horizontal plane about a vertical pivot When engaged by the filling carrier during its transfer from the hopper to the shuttle, and resilient means for restoring said filling carrier support to normal position.

2. In a battery for automatic filling replenishing looms comprising a stand having a throat to permit transfer of filling carriers, a hopper rotatably mounted in said stand having means for supporting a series of filling carriers, and transferring means, a filling carrier support normally located beneath said throat and pivotally mounted to swing in a horizontal plane about a vertical pivot When engaged by the filling carrier during its transfer from the hopper to the shuttle, and resilient means for restoring said filling carrier support to normal position.

3. In a battery for automatic filling replenishing looms comprising a stand having a throat to permit transfer of filling carriers, a hopper rotatably mounted in said stand having means for supporting a series of filling carriers, and transferring means, a filling carrier support normally located below said filling carrier having a pivotal shaft extending vertically through a boss on said stand, a collar secured to the upper end of said shaft, and a helical spring encircling said pivotal shaft, anchored atone end to said collar and at the other end to said boss, tending normally to hold said filling carrier support beneath said throat and permitting said filling carrier support to swing horizontally when engaged by a filling carrier during its transfer from the hopper to the shuttle.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

ALONZO E. RHOADES. 

